He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Jesus is coming soon.  In the face of 2000 years of Him NOT coming, hope is all we have to bring us through.  And so we have to keep reading these passages again and again, because they are our hope. When Jesus comes, he will judge, but for us that’s a good thing, not a bad thing.  For us, that judgement will be

With just two days left in the year, we come to the end.  If you’re still reading, congratulations!  It is no small task to read the entire bible, let alone doing it in a year!  I’d love to hear how reading the bible in a year has helped, changed, or grown you.  Just add a comment to this post and we can share it together. The last two days are going to be focused, as

When Jesus proclaims Himself “The Good Shepherd”, He is tapping a deep well of Jewish theological identity.  It was during the celebration of Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication, that Jesus uttered these words.  During this feast, texts from the OT were regularly read, texts decrying the “bad shepherds” or “false shepherds” that had led to Israel’s ruin time and time again.  They spoke against the temple leaders who had given in to their oppressors rather

Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? Why do we do what we do?  This question takes on a renewed seriousness when it comes to our devotional life.  Why do we

Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? Why do we do what we do?  This question takes on a renewed seriousness when it comes to our devotional life.  Why do we